Opinio Juris

No, Virginia, being unanimously acquitted by an international tribunal's trial and appeals chambers doesn't mean very much:

Belgium has confirmed that it was investigating Emmanuel Bagambiki, former Governor of Cyangugu during the 1994 genocide, who was acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and who is sought by Rwanda, reports Hirondelle Agency .

"The federal prosecutor is looking at the [Bagambiki's] extradition request and that there is an arrest warrant issued against him [by Rwanda]','said Lieve Pellens spokesperson of the prosecutor.

However, he hinted that Belgium and Rwanda, for the time being, do not have an extradition agreement, but affirmed that Investigations were underway against the former Rwandan official, who is living in Belgium with his family.

Following his final acquittal by the ICTR appeals court, on 8 February 2006, for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, Rwanda decided to prosecute the former Governor for rape, for which he was not tried by the UN tribunal.

On 10 October 2007, the Court of First Instance of Rusizi, his native region, sentenced Bagambiki in absentia to life in prison for rape and incitement to commit rape.

A source told Hirondelle that the federal prosecutor, Phillippe Meire, had recently travelled to Rwanda to follow up on the judgement.

If extradition was rejected, Belgium could decide to prosecute Bagambiki itself if there was any convincing evidence.

Rwanda's attempt to get their hands on Bagambiki is unlikely to succeed, given that the European Convention on Extradition prohibits extradition when the request is based on a conviction obtained in absentia. It is also unlikely that Belgium would prosecute Bagambiki for the rapes itself, because -- as I have explained elsewhere -- the rape charges are based on the same modes of participation (direct participation and command responsibility) that the ICTR unanimously rejected. Why, then, is Belgium continuing this legal charade? There seems to be only one answer: it is trying to punish Bagambiki for seeking aslyum -- and ultimately receiving it by court order, over government protests -- in Belgium.

Charades like this make a mockery of international criminal justice -- William Haynes writ large: "We can't have acquittals. We've been holding these guys for years. How can we explain acquittals? We have to have convictions."